Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

trauma centers

What began as a bang ended with a whimper as the House passed a diluted trauma center bill and sent it to the Senate Friday. The measure (HB 1077), which passed 93-24, began its legislative life to do away with a cap on how many trauma centers can open in Florida. The bill that was passed says areas with “at least 1.25 million … need at least two trauma centers,” and those with “more than 2.5 million … need at least four trauma…

A bill that would do away with a cap on how many trauma centers can open in Florida cleared its latest committee Monday. The bill (HB 1077), sponsored by GOP state Rep. Jay Trumbull of Panama City, was OK’d on a 10-5 party-line vote in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Health Care. He said the motivation for the bill was to end the flow of litigation against the state’s Department of Health, which now is charged with reviewing the need for new centers and approving…

A limit on how many trauma centers can open in Florida would be erased under legislation that cleared its first committee Monday. The bill (HB 1077), sponsored by state Rep. Jay Trumbull, was OK’d on a 10-5 vote. Among other things, it also does away with the system of trauma service areas and regions, relieves the Florida Department of Health of setting standards for the centers, and would streamline the process for new ones to open. Trumbull, a Panama City…

Another high-profile court fight over new trauma centers opening in Florida has begun in Tallahassee, even as lawmakers prepare to tinker with state law governing such facilities. As a pre-emptive strike, Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach and St. Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach last week sued the Florida Department of Health in Leon County Circuit Civil court. They both operate Level 1 trauma centers—the higher level of trauma care. At issue is an application from JFK Medical Center…

Jennifer Tschetter, an attorney who was most recently Chief Operating Officer of the Florida Department of Health, is joining Tallahassee’s Hopping Green & Sams law firm to specialize in “health care law matters,” the firm announced in a press release. Tschetter leaves the department after state Surgeon General John Armstrong was forced out of his job. The Florida Senate declined to confirm him two years in a row, making him the first state agency head in 20 years to be shown the door. Tschetter will…